The Ford logo is seen on a sign at a dealership in Hudson, Wis. / KAREN BLEIER AFP/Getty Images

by Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press

by Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press

DETROIT -- The FBI is investigating a former Ford engineer after secret listening devices were found in meeting rooms at the company's world headquarters in Dearborn, according to Ford officials and court documents.

It is not known if this is an espionage case, or an employment dispute involving a worker who wanted to know what her bosses and colleagues were saying about her.

The engineer's lawyer, meanwhile, insists there has been no foul play. Attorney Marshall Tauber says the case isn't about trade secrets or espionage, but rather involves an employee who needed help transcribing meetings and taking notes, so she sneaked in listening devices for help.

When Ford security caught on to what she was doing, Tauber said, she acknowledged what she did and gave them the gadgets.

"They found none stuck anywhere. The eight devices were all voluntarily handed over to Ford security by her," said attorney Tauber, who is representing Sharon Leach, the 43-year-old engineer at the center of the case. "She was a loyal employee to Ford Motor Co. from the day she worked there until the day she was fired. She wasn't out there trying to do something that would be against her employer's interest."

According to court records, the FBI seized eight listening devices from Ford headquarters on July 11, and more than two dozen items from Leach's Wyandotte home weeks earlier, including bank statements, tax records, a buy.com shipping bag, a Post-It note with numbers and a key chain with keys labeled "do not duplicate."

Ford officials say company security discovered the suspicious activity and contacted the FBI for help investigating the matter.

"Ford initiated an investigation of a now former employee and requested the assistance of the FBI," Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel said in a statement.

Krusel stressed that the FBI never raided its world headquarters, but rather "Ford voluntarily provided the information and items requested in the search warrant. We continue to work in cooperation with the FBI on this joint investigation. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to provide additional details."

According to a search warrant on file in U.S. District Court in Detroit, FBI agents on June 11 seized eight Sansa recording devices from Ford, including one pink device, two red ones and five black ones. The search warrant authorized the FBI to seize any recording devices given to any Ford representative by Leach.

Leach, a mechanical staff engineer who worked at Ford for 16 years, did not return calls for comment. Tauber, her lawyer, said she was fired in late June after turning over the devices and has been cooperative with authorities.

"She's nervous, of course. Who wouldn't be," said Tauber, adding "there's nothing to indicate" any corporate mischief or criminal wrongdoing on his client's part.

According to Tauber, Ford security personnel did not find any hidden gadgets at the company's headquarters, but rather became suspicious after seeing Leach leave and return to the same conference room on multiple occasions. When they asked her about the behavior, he said, she admitted that she was recording conference meetings using hidden devices.

"When they asked her about it, she said, 'Yes, I did that. Yes. I have these. And I will give them to you,' " Tauber said.

According to Tauber, Leach only wanted information from team meetings she was a part of, though the devices did pick up other conversations, he said, adding Leach had no interest in those talks. He said she just wanted to be accurate in her note taking, so she used the devices.

On June 20, three weeks before executing a search warrant at Ford, the FBI searched Leach's home in Wyandotte. According to the search warrant, agents seized more than two dozen items, including two laptops, financial and work documents, three flash drives, two IBM Thinkpads, a Visa credit card and a T-Mobile Google phone.

Leach, who was present during the search, refused to sign a copy of the search warrant and receipts of the inventory that was taken. The FBI left copies on her dining room table.